It was, as Andre Villas- Boas said, a 'crazy, chaotic' game. As torturous for some as it was tremendous for others, and for Chelsea's manager a rather more memorable meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson than that brief encounter at a coaching conference.

Inside the tortured mind of Fernando Torres it probably amounts to a nightmare. His miss, seven minutes before the end, is sure to haunt him and will only feed what Villas-Boas already considered an 'obsession' with the most expensive player in the history of English football.

But this is one of the reasons why this contest was so utterly insane, because it was the Spaniard's finest performances in a Chelsea shirt and the most compelling evidence yet that he is on the way to returning to his best.

Off and running: Chris Smalling heads home to put Manchester United into the lead against Chelsea

The miss and another squandered
opportunity aside, Torres was excellent. Strong, sharp and athletic, he
took the goal he did score beautifully and created a couple of chances
that his colleagues really should have converted, too.

But Sunday was
about so much more than Torres. It was about Manchester United being
clinical enough to emerge from such a fiercely contested first half with
a three-goal lead; the fact that they would have scored a fourth had
Wayne Rooney not slipped to send his penalty kick wide.

It was about the
sight of Nani not only scoring a brilliant goal but also destroying
Ashley Cole in a manner Cristiano Ronaldo never quite managed. Cole was
such a chastened figure that his frustration was manifested in a
shocking challenge on Javier Hernandez, who was as lucky not to leave
the field with a broken ankle as Cole was to escape with a yellow card
from Phil Dowd.

There were marvellous performances and some miserable
ones.

Phil Jones was magnificent alongside the similarly impressive
Jonny Evans. For Frank Lampard, however, it was nothing like as
satisfying. Hooked during the interval after a difficult first half that
included his failure to track Chris Smalling for the opening goal, you
have to wonder if the 33-year-old will occupy the role of spectator more
and more.

Pure delight: Smalling (right) leads the celebrations as United edge in front at Old Trafford

It was a day when records tumbled. As well as matching
United's best start to a league campaign since 1985, it was also the
club's 18th successive home league win - equalling a record that dates
back to the 1904-05 season. For Villas-Boas it marked the end of an
astonishing run. This was his first league defeat in 37 matches, dating
back to April 2010 when his Academica side lost 3-2 at home to Benfica.

Blast: Nani (second right) slams the ball home as United take control against Chelsea

Head over heels: Nani celebrates his goal

Victory for United owed much to
Chelsea's defensive fragility. Villas-Boas wants his team to play with
more intensity, further up the field,
but a midfield three of Ramires, Lampard and Raul Meireles did little to
protect a back four that was particularly vulnerable to Nani and Ashley
Young down the flanks. That said, Chelsea played pretty well at Old
Trafford and the first real chance certainly fell to them: Ramires met a
cross from Cole with a volley that David de Gea did well to block with
his right foot.

It made Smalling's controversial opener all the more
painful. The England defender seized not only on some poor defending but
some poor officiating to meet Young's free-kick in an offside position
and guide a header beyond the reach of Petr Cech.

After receiving a
loose pass from Anderson, Torres might have levelled. He did well to
accelerate between Anderson and Evans but then scuffed his shot wide.
Yet it did not compare to the miss that followed from Ramires, Torres
ran on to a delightful pass from Juan Mata and inviting the Brazilian to
score only to see him shoot meekly at United's goalkeeper.

Further
punishment followed. Nani, controlling a long, diagonal ball from Evans
before skipping past Mata, unleashed a 25-yard missile that flew beyond
Cech and into the top corner. Villas-Boas can again bemoan that Nani had
been in an offside position, but he will also be angry with his
midfielders for backing off as much as they did. United's third, scored
by Rooney just before the break, exposed yet more defensive
indiscipline. A surging run from Jones ended with John Terry's attempted
clearance rebounding off Nani and rolling into the path of an unmarked
Rooney.

Easy street: Wayne Rooney slides the ball home to score United's third before the break

Villas-Boas responded by replacing Lampard with Nicolas Anelka
and what a smart move it proved. The France striker produced the pass
that enabled Torres to lift the ball over an advancing De Gea with what
was a superb finish after less than 30 seconds of the restart.

Back in it: Fernando Torres (centre) celebrates after pulling a goal back for Chelsea in the second half

That
there were no more goals was perhaps the most astonishing aspect of this
game. Rooney failed to capitalise on Jose Bosingwa's foul on Nani by
missing the penalty in the 56th minute and then saw Dimitar Berbatov
squander a chance he provided moments before the end.

Slip: Rooney loses his balance as he takes a penalty (above) before having a smile to himself (below)

For Torres,
though, it was a touch more painful. First he blasted over from close
range after seeing his initial effort parried by De Gea and then came
the miss of the match - the former Liverpool striker bursting clear in
pursuit of a pass from Bosingwa and rounding De Gea only to send his
left-foot shot wide.

All Villas-Boas has to do now is convince Torres he
still had a good game.

How did he miss that? Torres shoots wide (above) and wishes the ground would swallow him (below)